Sports of The Times; Just Thank Testaverde For Replay

By DAVE ANDERSON

Published: March 18, 1999

VINNY TESTAVERDE's numbers as the Jets quarterback last season show only one rushing touchdown. One for the books, the history books.

In Testaverde's career statistics, that phantom touchdown for a last-second 32-31 victory over the Seattle Seahawks deserves an asterisk denoting the call that was so wrong it convinced the National Football League to do something right: bring back instant replay.

''The Testaverde play,'' a league official acknowledged, ''shook people up.''

Meaning the people with a vote -- owners, coaches and general managers. And yesterday, with 24 ''yes'' ballots needed, the clubs voted, 28-3, to restore replay for the 1999 season, quite a jump from last year's 21-9 turndown. Only the Jets, Arizona and Cincinnati cast nay votes.

For all the arguments extolling the absence of replay after its use from 1986 to 1991, even its most dedicated defenders couldn't argue with the injustice of the last-second Testaverde ''touchdown'' when he was stopped more than a yard short on a fourth-down quarterback sneak.

The Seahawks lost a game they should have won. It cost them the playoffs, which then cost their coach, Dennis Erickson, his job.

The Jets won a game they should have lost. Who knows how a loss would have affected their psyches entering the final three games of what turned out to be a 12-4 season?

But the N.F.L.'s embarrassment of mistakes last season began 10 days before the Testaverde play occurred.

It started with a referee's confusion over the coin toss before the Steelers-Lions overtime on Thanksgiving Day.

Then the Bills lost in New England, 25-21, on a desperation pass after replays showed that Patriot receiver Shawn Jefferson had been out of bounds when he caught a fourth-down pass for a first down. Ralph Wilson, the Bills owner, objected so angrily he was fined $50,000 by Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Will replay be perfect this time around? No. Will it slow up a game occasionally while replays are reviewed? Yes. Will those reviews be inconclusive occasionally? Yes. But will replay determine the correct call much more often than not? Yes. Would it have eliminated the catastrophically wrong Testaverde call? Yes.

Until now, pro football, like all Gaul in Caesar's time, has been divided into three parts -- offense, defense and special teams. But with the return of instant replay with a coach's challenge system, there suddenly is a fourth part -- the coach's television team.

And instead of seven zebras, now there's an eighth -- the replay official in an upstairs booth who will decide if a call in the last two minutes of each half and in overtime deserves to be reviewed by the referee peering into an instant-replay monitor on the field.

If a controversial call occurs in the last two minutes or in overtime, that replay official won't hesitate to beep the referee to check the monitor. Let the referee make the call. But the N.F.L. must provide the clearest possible monitor for the referee to check, especially if a hostile crowd is in full cry.

But if a coach is to challenge an official's call in the first 28 minutes of either half and risk losing a timeout if the call is not reversed after the referee's review, a coach usually will need help from both his players and a spotter, say an assistant coach, watching the network feed in an upstairs booth.

Unless a controversial play occurs near a coach, or at least along his sideline, a coach usually won't be able to tell immediately if an official's call should be challenged.

On Testaverde's phantom touchdown, for example, Coach Bill Parcells couldn't see from near midfield if his quarterback was in the end zone. Parcells reacted only after Ernie Frantz, the head linesman who was trailing the play by a yard or two, mistakenly signaled touchdown.

On the Seahawk sideline, Erickson also couldn't see. He reacted to his defensive players' objection to Frantz's call.

But the two-minute warning now has a new meaning -- the start of the replay official's responsibility to alert the referee to check a game-turning call. This was Tagliabue's idea to take the coaches off the hook in those crucial minutes.

So drop a thank-you note to Vinny Testaverde for the touchdown he really didn't score.